Walker comes full circle to land Jeff City coaching job

Tuesday

Feb 6, 2018 at 7:33 PMFeb 7, 2018 at 3:18 PM

By Nick Kelly Columbia Daily Tribune

Middle-school-aged Terry Walker had just finished an agility drill when the decorated coach pulled him aside.

Jefferson City coach Pete Adkins, who won eight state titles with the Jays, complemented Walker’s footwork over the football bag on the ground. He told Walker that he could make a great defensive player one day if he combined that footwork with a nasty attitude.

Walker struggled to process this. He felt overwhelmed. Just months before that spring day in 1980, Walker had been crying in the stands after Adkins’ Jays lost the state championship to Webster Groves.

“He was bigger than life in my eyes at that point in time,” Walker said of Adkins. “For him to speak to me at that point in time was, I don’t know … lucky?”

That luck does not compare to what Walker feels now, about two weeks into his new job as the football coach at Jefferson City where he brings perspective on life after 22 years in the Air Force.

“I have strong feelings about this school and this town,” Walker said. “It was a fantastic opportunity, and I feel really lucky.”

It’s a job that seemed highly unlikely when Adkins first approached him in 1980. Walker enjoyed basketball more at that time.

Walker said that changed after his encounter with Adkins. Football became his top sport. And Walker became that player Adkins told him he could be. Walker won a state championship with the Jays as a linebacker his junior year.

The Air Force was not in Walker’s plans while in high school. He was all-in on football, prompted by another conversation he had after his junior year.

That summer, Walker went to a summer football camp at the University of Arkansas. Linebackers coach Fred Goldsmith singled out and spoke to Walker about a promising future in football.

“I knew right then and there that I really wanted to pursue college football as hard as I possibly could,” Walker said.

He initially committed to Arkansas. He later changed that commitment to Missouri, where he played for two years.

He planned to pursue professional football. He didn’t have anything else on which he could fall back.

But Walker describes himself as a self-aware individual. So he realized he might want to look for other career avenues during his sophomore season.

“I watched film on Saturday evening after a college game," Walker said, "and I watched the guys on Sunday, and I thought, ‘Ehh, I don’t think I’m as good as those guys.’”

But what now? He had nothing else lined up. He knew he didn’t want to follow his father and brothers in becoming a member of the Missouri State highway patrol.

While he evaluated his options, Walker thought of the Air Force Academy. It gave him an offer to play football for the Falcons when he was in high school, and he knew of the school’s strong academic reputation.

Once he looked into the Air Force’s different missions, he was sold. He thought he would like to fly fighter jets.

After he played his final two years for the Falcons, Walker entered into an extremely competitive environment during pilot training.

Only the top 10-15 percent of pilot training students are selected for fighter training.

Then, there are different levels within the fighter community. Flight examiner is the highest level, followed by instructor pilot. Walker reached both levels during his time at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Fla.

Walker has 150 hours of combat time, but he never took part in any air-to-air engagement that required live weapons.

“It’s like practicing for a football game you never play,” Walker said.

But he’s grateful they never had to partake in that "game."

And he saw the world, thanks to the job. He traveled to countries such as England, Germany, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“I know the United States takes hits from time to time,” Walker said, “but I can tell you there is no better place to be, no better country in the world than the United States in regard to human-rights issues, advancing the causes of different groups of people.”

His travels gave him a greater appreciation specifically for Jefferson City. He knew when he retired from the military in 2013 that he wanted to go back.

So he earned a teacher’s certificate and became an assistant coach for the Jays. After two years, he took the head-coaching job at Blair Oaks, where he led the Falcons to three district titles and two state semifinal appearances.

Blair Oaks junior quarterback Nolan Hair called Walker one of the best coaches at the high school level in Missouri, someone who is kind off the field … but not so much on it.

“We would always whine about getting yelled at all the time for not being perfect if our feet were 6 inches off (in any drill),” Hair said.

Every inch matters in football, but not in the way it mattered for Walker in the Air Force.

Walker remembers the sun’s location, where his flight lead sat and other minute details on the 1997 day when he was first learning to fly an F-15.

He almost collided with another plane that day.

Walker still thinks about what could have happened. He knows what could have happened. He flew with a handful of pilots who died in flight training accidents.

“It is certainly a moment that stuck with me,” Walker said.

It often crosses his mind in quiet moments, such as when the national anthem plays before a game.

“Those are moments to reflect on how lucky you actually are,” Walker said. “We are incredibly lucky, whether we realize it or not.”

Now, luck carries new meaning. It brings perspective that he cannot take every moment he gets to do what he loves for granted.

But without Adkins’ comment in 1980, Walker might have focused on basketball. He might not have ended up at the Air Force Academy.

And now, 38 years later, Adkins’ job is his.

nkelly@columbiatribune.com

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